Kesenai Tsumi
by kung fu kit
Summary: Sasuke vowed to go to any lengths to defeat his brother, trying to achieve the mangekyou without fulfilling the requirements is bound to have side effects. Sasuke learns that the hard way…when he reaches his limit who will guide him? Sasuhina
1. dye me in red

AN: lo all. First I will warn anyone that doesn't like Sasuke or Hinata… even more so to those who don't like them together… cause they will be to be wary of reading this. despite how this may appear from the beginning it is NOT YAOI. I don't write yaoi or shounen ai and am unlikely to be persuaded into writing any… ever. A friend just happened to point out the fact that if you don't already know that this is going to be a sasuhina then it does kinda seem like there is something between Sasuke and Naruto. There isn't. Brotherly friendship… nothing more.

Naruto, Sasuke, kiba, shika and Ino are eighteen in this fic… Hinata and Sakura (along with shino, gaara and chouji) are seventeen… as it is early December. Hinata's birthday is coming up. (don't ask me why I worked it out I just did… I'm picky that way)

The title _kesenai__ tsumi_ means _inerasable sin._ It does have significant relevance to the plot line… which I will explain in more detail when the event relating to it appears in the fic… till then please read review and I hope you enjoy (oh yeah the name comes from the title of the 1st ending song from full metal alchemist… so addictive.)

Summary: It seemed that Sasuke would go to any lengths to defeat his brother. And trying to achieve the mangekyou Sharingan without fulfilling the requirements is bound to have various side effects. Sasuke learns that the hard way…

Hinata will appear in the next chapter.

Onward march!

O o o o O

Kesenai Tsumi

He thought that the closer he got, the easier it would become to walk to the village. But each time he dragged his feet forward the weight on them seemed to increase with each step. Stopping briefly he bent over to hold his stomach, hoping that it would ease the painful stitch in his side. He had stamina, but going without substantial food for over two weeks was not a smart move. Wasn't he supposed to have gotten stronger and wiser? This was plain stupidity. Swallowing the saliva that gathered in his mouth thickly, Sasuke straightened up and continued to trudge up the path. He guessed it'd have been a lot quicker to tree hop, but he didn't have the chakra to propel himself off the braches anymore. He needed a bath, food and a good weeks worth of sleep.

Sasuke gazed up the road wearily and felt his heart beat heavily in his chest. To the average person the sight on the horizon would have been endless fields and thick forests. But Sasuke was well trained to notice the slight waves rising from the ground, like heat waves. Genjutsu. A powerful type too, one that clocked the entire village of hidden leaf, _Konohagakure no satou_. He expected that there would be various guards posted about the village entrances, Chuunin, Jounin and possibly even ANBU. Summoning what little chakra he had left, Sasuke called on his Sharingan to enable him to see through the multi layered Genjutsu protection of Konoha. In the future he would realise what a stupid and foolish mistake that was.

It took another hour or so to wind through the maze that was the gateway to Konoha. When Sasuke finally stepped out of the forest he was greeted by a dense fog, another measure to keep Konoha hidden from unfriendly eyes. The outer gates were closer now; Sasuke could almost see the detail of the wooden walls. There were definitely ANBU on guard tonight; they'd been tracking him for a good half hour now. It didn't matter; he'd gone too long without good care of his health to fight a rabbit right now. He wouldn't resist apprehension as long as he could make it to the gate. As he approached the gates, various ANBU that had been tailing him dropped down from nearby trees, the Jounin gatekeepers stood in front of him blocking his path to the village.

"Uchiha… Sasuke."

Sasuke looked up from under his messy bangs at the guard that had spoken his name. He knew he looked a wreck; his dark hair was ruffled, his clothes torn and caked with dirt and blood, as was his skin. But he was also aware that even in this dirtied and ragged state he struck some amount of anxiety and fear in these elite ANBU. Their movements about him were hesitant and weary. He was sure that his blood red Sharingan eyes contributed to that effect. He allowed a small smirk to stretch across his lips before turning around to face the one ANBU member behind him that had not shied away, the one that had not been disheartened by the terrifying Sharingan. The fox mask the ANBU member had on should have been a means to hide his true identity, but the older generation of Konoha knew that he was the only one that would dare wear a fox mask. He was the only one who would dare and the only one who could get away with it.

"It's been a while, _dobe_." He smiled and let his eyelids descend over his eyes, letting the floor rush up to meet him.

The others didn't try to stop Naruto when he picked up the unconscious Uchiha and carried him into the village silently. For they knew that when Uzumaki Naruto was silent, in any situation, he wasn't going to be argued with, be you his elder or not.

O o o o O

"I swear it kid you better have a good reason for waking me up at this time of night, do you even know what ti-"

Tsunade stopped mid rant as Naruto entered her study, carrying a roughed up looking boy. There was no doubt in her mind that the blood covering the boy's body was his own and though she barely knew him, she recognised him immediately as one Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto put him down on her couch and stood straight to face her. Though he still had his mask on Tsunade knew that his expression would be a reflection of the hurt she'd seen on his face five years ago…

Five years had passed since Sasuke had abandoned Konoha and the feelings were still bitter. Naruto looked at the face of his best friend and felt tears sting his eyes. It hurt more that he looked as innocent as he did, laying there sleeping. He was far from that. He supposed he should call Sakura; she'd be on his case in the morning if this news got to her last.

"When did you find him?" Tsunade asked her tone deepening immediately.

"He's been in the Konoha territory for about two hours. He collapsed when we approached him at the gates. I'm going to get Sakura." Naruto turned to leave.

"No."

"You know it'll make her easier to handle in the morning."

"I said _no_, Sakura is a grown woman she'll just have to deal with it. You on the other hand, are to stay with him; you're off patrol for the week."

"…"

She expected him to argue with that, but he just sat down and pulled his mask off wearily. Uzumaki Naruto's hate for Sasuke was equal to his fondness of him. It wasn't everyday you found your best friend again. He wouldn't trust him to any one other than himself, Sakura or Kakashi sensei. Tsunade stood over Sasuke examining his injuries. He looked bad, beaten even worse than the last time she had healed him. She wondered if it had been his brother that had caused these injuries. Was he still not strong enough to defeat him? Or were his injuries a result of something else? He was two years late for Orochimaru's use so then who, what and how? He must have escaped Orochimaru's grasp before his body could have been utilised. But still Tsunade wasn't entirely sure; granted, Sasuke wasn't evil in his heart, he wasn't like Orochimaru, but in so many ways he was just like him. He would do anything to achieve his goals, _anything_. Is that what he had done? Anything? Including drive his body beyond its limits?

It was obvious by looking at him that he had not been eating properly, not sleeping…

_…or not allowed to sleep_

A normal person would have perished already… Tsunade sighed and touched the back of her hand to his forehead tentatively. He had a burning fever… a thin layer of sweat was already forming on his pale skin giving him a waxy sick aura.

It would be a long night.

O o o o O

Naruto was sat with his feet up on a chair opposite him. Sasuke had been moved to a hospital room a few hours ago and Naruto had been ordered to keep watch. That was fine, he was going to stay whether he was asked to or not. He watched him silently and allowed his features to soften slightly. Sasuke, he looked different but painfully similar to his younger self. He wondered what his return meant. What happened with Orochimaru? What about Itachi, was he dead? Or was he the reason for Sasuke's current condition? Was this Orochimaru in Sasuke's body? Was this a ploy to get back at Konoha?

Too many possibilities.

Naruto didn't believe that it was Orochimaru under the Uchiha's skin. The expression on Sasuke's face when he'd faced him hours earlier was purely Sasuke, not something Orochimaru would know how to replicate. Besides no one knew Sasuke as well as Naruto, he wasn't going to allow his body to be taken by some snake when he had a goal to achieve, one he would achieve with his own hand…

Ideally, Naruto wanted to take a bath, change into something comfortable, but there was the chance that Sasuke would wake up while he was gone. He wanted to be the first person to talk to him. **_If_** Orochimaru _had_ taken Sasuke's body, Naruto would know.

The time passed swiftly and Naruto didn't know how long he'd been there. The sun had risen some time ago and he expected Sakura to make an appearance soon. That was positively a reason to be weary of Sasuke's return.

Over the five years without him Naruto and Sakura had gotten closer. It was better because she wasn't dating him through pity or out of convenience. She'd told Naruto that spending time with him alone had made an impact. She'd liked Sasuke, but for no reason. Sasuke didn't make her laugh, he didn't comfort her when she was sad. Naruto didn't leave her behind when he was troubled. Naruto had his princess, but despite his relief of seeing Sasuke, he hoped that she wouldn't turn back to him. No one could blame Naruto's anxiety… it was just the way he was. Naruto, on his part, had matured over the years. Mellowed out so to speak, he liked to think that if the sandaime were still with them he'd have been proud of the man he'd become.

Such thoughts were so depressing…

Sakura did turn up, she was angry but she didn't shout or scream the way he'd expected.

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-ba-ba had me stay with him the whole time. She wouldn't even let me out to call you." The slight frown on her face eased as she looked over at him and smiled softly.

"I'm not angry at you. I'm proud."

"Proud?"

"Proud that you haven't mauled his face yet…"

"Sakura! Would I?" he asked with feigned innocence. He immediately felt himself relax. Sakura had an aura about her that could make him feel at ease, in almost any situation.

"No, _you're_ somewhat considerate. _I'm_ going to murder him slowly and painfully when he wakes up." She said with a perfectly serious expression on her face. Naruto laughed oddly and offered her the spare seat. She muttered her thanks and looked over Sasuke in a motherly manner, checking that the assistant medics had bandaged him well. Naruto felt his heart lurch and he looked out the window uneasily. Sakura threw a bundle of rolled up bandages at Naruto's head in annoyance. "Stop being a paranoid woman." She chided and continued to check Sasuke over.

Naruto thanked what god there was for blessing him with so much luck.

But for how long that luck would last, no one knew.

O o o o O

Sasuke's face contorted slightly as if he were in pain and slowly but surely his eyelids fluttered open. He blinked a couple of times to allow his eyes to adjust to the new light. Strange. Double vision. He blinked a couple of times to straighten out his sight but only succeeded in blurring things further. He focused on the window frame across the room trying to figure out why the clouds were moving so fast and why the sky was red...

He blinked again and the sky was its light blue again. Sasuke shook his head, blaming his paranoia on the hallucination. When he was satisfied he glanced about the room to survey his surroundings. His eyes fell upon the fair-haired ANBU sat on a chair gazing out of the window. Propping himself up with his hands Sasuke, sat up and watched the other shinobi quietly. Idiot, he hadn't even noticed he was awake yet.

"Not very attentive are you?" Sasuke asked with an underlying tone of annoyance in his voice. Naruto didn't turn around but Sasuke could have sworn the slight noise he heard from him was a snort.

"Or maybe it's just that I don't want to look at your sick face."

"Whatever…" Naruto's voice was different, no longer the slightly high pitched whine, but a rich deep tremble. Things really had changed. Sasuke couldn't help but smile. "How have things been here?" Sasuke asked offhandedly. Naruto turned around and looked Sasuke in the eye before giving him a menacing grin worthy of the kyuubi that lay in his belly.

"Peaceful. Ruin it and I'll kill you myself." Naruto retorted.

"It's nice to see you too Naruto." Sasuke said with a short laugh. There was nothing malicious in that laugh and it pissed Naruto off for some reason. He just stared at Sasuke and summoned the self restraint he had learnt to control and utilised it to stop himself from decking his friend in the face.

It probably wasn't worth the effort anyway. Knowing Sasuke, the one thing that wouldn't change about him would be the annoying way in which he could always push the right buttons to aggravate Naruto. Sighing softly Naruto relaxed and looked Sasuke in the face. There was no Orochimaru behind that look, just a boy who looked tired and weary with his life.

"So what have you been up to in the past five years? Working on making your glare as cold as possible? Can you make pigeons drop in mid flight by looking at them yet?" Sasuke didn't look amused. What he didn't realise was that Naruto was talking about the still activated Sharingan that Sasuke had. "Put those eyes away Sasuke, you're not going to intimidate anyone here." Naruto scoffed, Sasuke knew that his Sharingan rarely had any effect on Naruto…

"What are you talking about you loser?" Sasuke muttered and leaned back into the mass of pillows.

"Your Sharingan, it's not really working." Sasuke frowned bringing a hand up to touch his eyelids slightly. "Don't remember activating it… maybe that's why the room is spinning." He said, more to himself than anything else. He blinked, willing his chakra away from his eyes. The sky drowned in red again, a red that Sasuke knew all too well.

_That day_ was coloured in the red of the sky, the red of his eyes… the red of the blood in his veins.

What's going on?

"Sorry Naruto, but I think I need a little more rest." He muttered and closed his eyes to rid himself of the familiar claustrophobic feeling. Hoping that all would be better when he woke up, hoping the visions would stop.

He didn't expect his dreams to be cursed.


	2. Scars

CHAPTER 308 SPOILERS. 308 is a very very recent chapter, if you don't want it spoiled for you, avoid the second part of the italic flashback section. It's a little bit important though. So if you ahven't read 308 go read it now! Cause it's so awesome and Sasuke is so awesome and I'm turning into fangirl mush… T-T look what you're doing to me Sasuke just LOOK! T-T

AN: erm this fic is somewhat AU due to the fact that it does not follow the manga as it is currently flowing at the moment. The whole Naruto storyline stays true up until the Kakashi gaiden part. My time skip is somewhat different. Ah hell that's what fan fiction is about isn't it? I've edited slightly so it does use some of the new jutsus that time skip Sasuke has learnt, like CN/FC! Wow so yummy. And Sasuke's kusanagi blade. Uwaaa it's sooo kewl!

Sorry about the delay for this chapter, I only recently found my story plan for this fic

Onward march!

OooOooO

Hinata gazed up at the moon and sighed. Her limbs ached and her eyes drooped wearily. It was probably a good idea to sleep but she didn't feel like it; she'd spent most of the day training with Neji, and he was not one to go easy on her. It was part of the deal after all; he would train her personally if she promised to try her best. Hinata was not going to remain a disgrace to her family, she was the rightful heir of the Hyuuga clan, and she'd take her place proudly as a strong leader. She would make her father proud. But that was not what worried Hinata right now; she was only a few weeks away from her ANBU qualification exams. That would truly be an anxious affair.

Hinata's gaze shifted to the village of Konoha, cloaked in the dark of night

There seemed to be some commotion down by the gates, Hinata activated her Byakugan and focused her vision on Konoha's entrance. Even though it was far further than fifty meters, she could still make out some vague details. Much better than anyone without the Byakugan could. There was disarray amongst the ANBU. She wondered if Neji was on patrol tonight, the security certainly looked heavier than usual. She watched for some time until the patrol units dispersed and all was still again, she got bored eventually staring off into the nothingness and trailed her gaze back to the full moon.

So alien and large in the sky, she was awed.

Hinata soon became too lazy to keep her eyes open and let them droop lower. She guessed it must have been about two o Clock in the morning, judging by the pure dark sky. She was expected to be up at six o clock for training. Then there was the volunteer work she's signed up for. She had theories about her Byakugan and it's usefulness in medicine. Tsunade had her working at the hospital quite often, especially after Hinata's breakthrough treatments over the last invasion. It took a lot out of her, training, study and researching… sleep was a very good idea right now. She staggered over to the mattress on the floor and lay down on it. The air was warm tonight; enveloping her body, it lulled her to sleep.

OooOooO

"All right, can you look at the corner of the room for me?" Sasuke did so. "To the left," his eyes shifted. "Now stick out your tongue" Sasuke frowned. "Don't give me that look, and do as you're asked." Shizune chided and waited patiently while Sasuke pathetically stuck his tongue out. Shizune examined his tongue and wrinkled her nose critically. Muttering to herself she turned back around for her bag of herbs and added yet another dosage of something pungent smelling to the medicine she was mixing up for him.

"Honestly Uchiha-san, what have you been eating for the past two weeks? Grass?"

"How does my tongue tell you about my eating habits?" Sasuke asked dryly.

"Don't question my methods." She said sternly. "Your tongue reflects the condition of your stomach. I guess you didn't know that." Sasuke shrugged in response and complied to avoid being scolded again. Shizune took another half hour to complete his medical check and prescribe him his necessary medicines.

"Is there anything else that's giving you trouble?"

"Headaches. Especially when I try to use any kind of jutsu or my kekkei genkai." Shizune nodded.

"Not that you'll be allowed to use any ninjutsu during your probation period, but I'll have a look into it. Your sleep has been troublesome?"

"That's nothing new…" Sasuke said dryly. He was an insomniac, regular and untroubled sleep was a thing of the past."

"More so than usual?"

"Possibly" he admitted.

"Alright"

She jotted down a couple of things on her clipboard before flipping it shut.

"That's all for now, but you won't be left alone for a while, for everyone's security…" she informed him and moved to the door. Sasuke could sense the jounin posted around his room, six in total, and with r Naruto and another masked ANBU who'd just entered, made eight guards. Naruto paused to speak briefly with Shizune, who seemed a little worried about whatever it was he was telling her. Shame Naruto had his back to him, he could have lip read, but they were talking far too quietly for him to be able to make out anything. Shizune finally left with a frown.

"You're back barely a week and you already have people waiting on you hand and foot eh Uchiha?" Naruto said sourly and flopped in the chair beside Sasuke's bed.

"Fuck off Naruto, I'm not in the mood for this today. We already know that I'm an ungrateful bastard and so on. How abut we skip that today?"

"Whatever. Shizune says you can probably check out by the end of the week."

"Good…"

"Unfortunately, we have to come with you." Naruto said and jerked his thumb in the other ANBU's direction. Sasuke was sure he recognised the tall shinobi's chakra but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. As if to answer his curiosity the long haired ANBU removed his hawk mask and nodded formally in Sasuke's direction, his colourless eyes slightly downcast.

"You're being sentenced to house arrest for the next six months… at least. Avoid resistance and you'll be dealt with care." Naruto said. "Shizune wants you here for just another few days, and then we should be fine to leave. Neji and I will probably take shifts to guard you in the first few weeks. I think Sakura-Chan might take over afterwards. We'll see."

It seemed Naruto had gotten tired of talking back and had finally resorted to civilised conversation.

"Just out of curiosity, why did you come back?"

"Home is here isn't it?" Sasuke said with a sarcastic smile.

"Funny…" Naruto retorted dryly. "What happened to your vengeance, your training with the old snake…?" Naruto questioned. Sasuke snorted bitterly in response.

"Did you forget that I was only being used idiot? I got what I needed…"

"So he did try to use you as a vessel…"

"Tried and failed." He paused with a faint smile. "I got out. He taught me better than he might have realised, I rejected his jutsu…"

_At a cost_

Naruto looked surprised.

"Rejected it?"

"I don't remember how… it doesn't matter. That was two years ago, I've been on the run since."

"Why didn't you come back here straight away?"

"What, right back where he'd expect me to go you mean? Be real Naruto, he knew I'd come back here eventually I had to shake him off my tail first." Sasuke conveniently forgot to mention how he'd been able to do that…

"_Sasuke-kun, I have a new jutsu to teach you…" Sasuke blinked, deactivating his Sharingan. He turned to Orochimaru and nodded. Orochimaru glanced at Sasuke peculiarly before turning to lead the way to the training ground. _

_Orochimaru had undoubtedly come before him to investigate Sasuke's flaring chakra use. Sasuke had been experimenting for months with his sharingan. Put into use with some of the forbidden jutsus that Orochimaru had taught him, he'd almost developed his sharingan to the next level. _

_His ability to hide his experiments was lacking however and Orochimaru grew increasingly suspicious. Orochimaru never said anything, he usually encouraged Sasuke to test his strength, it meant that he'd have a stronger container in the end after all. But even he was no fool when it came to being overpowered, and Sasuke certainly had the ability to develop himself to that level. _

_Sasuke was getting close, but the toll it was taking on his body and his chakra system was high. He couldn't lose focus now, but the mangekyou was the key to power right now. Even if he had not fulfilled the correct requirements…_

OooO

_They had approached Sasuke unawares. At least they thought they had. He had feigned the look of surprise and shock when Orochimaru had begun the process of the jutsu. And Sasuke had almost been sucked into it. The snake's eyes had been mesmerising and Sasuke was reminded of the terror he had felt during the chuunin exams. It did not take much to shake that fear off. Sasuke knew what he had to do. He knew the fear that Orochimaru inflicted, but that was nothing compared to Itachi. _

_Breaking his gaze away from the large snake Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating hard, when he opened his eyes again, Orochimaru was the one that received the shock. Sasuke felt Orochimaru's grip on the jutsu loosen and he made his move there, tearing his body and soul away from Orochimaru's hold. Kabuto dove in to apprehend Sasuke, only to be thrown back by the crackling aura of Sasuke's body. Chidori Nagashi Sasuke had developed had certainly come in handy over the years, especially now. _

_Orochimaru's expression was aghast but Sasuke was too busy establishing a eye contact to care. He stood no chance. The mangekyou sharingan was too powerful for Orochimaru to fight back against on such a circumstance. He certainly had not expected this of all things._

"_What have you done…how? Sasuke-kun!" he rasped, but Sasuke took that moment to run. While he was being devoured by the illusions, weakened by his decaying vessel. Kabuto stood again, taking chase. Sasuke drew his kusanagi blade and activated his flowing Chidori once more. Kabuto screamed in horror at the bleeding gash in his gut. He cursed and gurgled as blood rose to his mouth._

"_Sasuke!"_

_Sasuke blocked out the screams as he ran, never slowing, further and further away. Orochimaru would recover fast, and Kabuto would heal very quickly too. Sasuke ran and ignored the vices shouting his name._

"_Sasuke!"_

_He ran_

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke snapped back as looked up at Naruto in surprise.

"Jeez try not to blank out when I'm talking will you? Typical of you Uchiha." Naruto muttered. "we're going to go get some food. The other are watching outside your room, make my life easier and don't try to run alright? I'll pick you something up to eat, cause I'm nice and all that. Hospital food sucks."

"You should know you're probably here that often…"

"Play nice Sasuke, I'm being awfully considerate…" Naruto warned and left the room with a yawn, Neji glanced back at Sasuke with a strange look in his eyes and Sasuke could have sworn that he'd seen a smile spread across the Hyuuga's lips before he'd covered his face with the hawk mask again.

Sasuke relaxed slightly as the two ANBU left the room. He liked his space, and though he knew he was being guarded, Sasuke was relived that he didn't have anyone watching him anymore. He hated it when people watched him, picked him apart with their eyes. Of course he knew just how revealing a simple gaze could be. That's what unnerved him about the Hyuuga that had been with Naruto, Neji.

Various people visited his room that day, nurses that checked his stats regularly. People came to look into his room from afar, to see if he was really back. Sasuke barely recognised any of them. He didn't care anyway. Their empty stares did not matter to him.

Until she walked past.

He wasn't sure why she was different; her eyes looked Hyuuga, like Neji's. And he passed it off as that. She walked past the room talking to someone behind her with a smile. Her eyes only met his for the briefest second, but that second alone was enough to wipe the smile from her face. She blinked and her gaze left his.

Was he really that despicable?

OooOooO

Next chapter will be posted much faster this time. I have my story plan, free time and I'm off my year long writer's block. Yey

Major thanks to Spectrum, fried ryce, Ah-choo, Addy-chan, Rebel-blah-blah-blah, SGL, OspreyAnimeG, Surreal, Uchiha Kaede, TENDERvanilla, kiddtris, Oztan, Demeterr and purple1 for reviewing. means a lot more than you think, keeps me going to write! i do hope you'll all continue to R&R.


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